Bruce Rice is a previous Saskatchewan Poet Laureate (2019-2021), an editor and essayist. Born in northern BC, he grew up in Prince Albert and returned to the province after ten years in the Maritimes. Bruce holds a B.A. from Saint Thomas and a MSW degree from Dalhousie University. Bruce writes about community, reclaiming the voices of those who live on the margins, and how we are transformed by landscape even as we leave our footprints on it. Bruce’s most recent collection, The Vivian Poems: Street Photographer Vivian Maier (Radiant Press 2020), is a response to the life and work of this Photographer Vivian Maier, gives a voice to the work of this complex artist who worked as a nanny for well-to-do families in Chicago. Bruce’s previous book, The Trouble With Beauty, received the 2015 Saskatchewan Book Award for Poetry, and Life in the Canopy (also Radiant Press), was nominated for Saskatchewan Book of the Year. Bruce has collaborated with artists on performances incorporating dance, music and film. Judges said Rice’s first book, Daniel, which won the Canadian Author’s Association Award, “...portrays life's hardships with and elegance and simplicity of language which is stunning.” His work ranges from social document and critique to meditations on art, landscape and wilderness. He says, “I became a better poet when I surrendered to beauty.” Bruce lives in Regina, Saskatchewan on Treaty 4 Territory and the homeland of the Métis.
Finding your voice, subjects like writing from art, urban or natural landscapes, mental health, poetry as inclusion and giving voice.
Poetry or combination of poetry and prose in the same session. focus on Voice and character, finding your voice, drive in language, imagination in language, ethics and practical issues. Writing from Art.
Combination of reading and workshop and students' own writing, group work and learning.